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during europe's 19th century scramble for africa. britain, germany planted their flags on vast pieces of the continue nexts. france grabbed a big chunk north of the belgium claim in the congress open. france forced the people who have been living their all along to pay the price of paris colonial adventures they handed it over to the germans and took it back again after the first world war. overtime the people of the colony fought back and tried to kick the french out. but cotton, identity tea, gold, coffee won the argument. it's been more than 50 years since france left. but the governments of the central african republic did little better than the french did in the previous 80 years. of the four and a half million people, in a country a little smaller than texas, there is poverty, illness, division, and now great danger. families are fleeing the central african republic by the 10s of

thousands. as fighting between rival rebel groups, intensities. >> translator: there is nothing, nothing here for us. in a country that has seen five coups and several military rebellions since its 19 secretary independence, this particular humanitarian crisis is raising alarms in the international communities. >> translator: central african is a humanitarian ca as it tough i. thercatastrophe. >> the poor landlocked country has been descendsing in to chaos. a group of five rebel groups from the country's muslim dominated north over through the central government last march. in december, after nine months of spiraling sectarian strive, france sent 1600 soldiers t 160o

try to bring along order. along 1500 african traps. >> translator: i think what's important is that we assume our international responsibilities. europe must do their part as well. >> the usual peen africana lines eventually pressured the lead tore step down from government last month. katherine is now acting as at interim president. >> translator: i swear in front of god and in front of the nation to respect the transition the constitutional chart tore agree the independence and continue true at this of the republic to guard our territory and preserve piece. >> but now a loose coalition of village defense militias known as the anti, have sworn revenge on the country muslim communities for previous atrocities, thousands of muslims

are fleeing. >> it's entire possible that there will be no more muslims here and west central african republic. >> the mutual hatred between groups is spurring mass looting and anarchy across the country. >> translator: i was inside my house and someone knocked at the door and when i opened the door i was suddenly shot at. they shot me in the leg. i was taken to a community hospital where i spent two months. >> france deployed an additional 400 french troops from chad to try to bring order for the central african republic streets. >> translator: we are here to apply the u.n. security council resolution and in the resolution of the international community voted unanimously including the use of force. >> french and african peacekeepers also conducted house searches in a neighborhood believed to be the anti-base. knives, grenades, automatic weapons and ammo were confiscated but the mission's

top target. leader patrice was not, he escaped capture it. though the central african republic is rich in gold, diamonds and uranium, decades of political chaos and resource mismanagement have left its residents largely impoverished and vulnerable remember the u.n. now estimates over 1 million people are in need of emergency food aid. 90% of the country is living on just one meal a day. with armed maliciouses blocking off roads it's dangerous to drive food n the world food program started delivering aid by plane last week. >> this is a lifeline that will allow to us bring emergency food relief to people affected by the conflict here. and will also allow us to start repositioning food all across car before the raining season starts and makes most the roads impossible. >> planting season is more than a month away and farmers still

need their seeds. so the crisis may get much worse. the u.n. says more than 2,000 people have been killed, and more than 800,000 display. >> on this edition of the program, we are focusing on the political and humanitarian crisis in the central african republic. the cycle of violence is escalating can it be stopped and who will do it? >> joining us now robin rene san erred who served as u.n. ambassador to nigeria. from austin texas, mark schroder. director of a geopolitical intelligence firm. and a senior fellow at the brookings institution's calf grow initiative. mark schroder let me start with you. how much of the current problem in the central african republic has to do with the fact that this was already a long, troubled place?

>> well, that's exactly right. if we look at the history of the central african republic, it has been one of insecurity, rebellions, going back decades. even if we look at this most immediate episode of violence and rebellions, we have to take it back at least to 2003 when the previous president came to power himself through all coup. he was overthrown almost a year ago, march last year, and the country has continued to deteriorate and struggle while trying to manage its own security gains. >> ambassador sanders, we saw foreign troops on the ground there, african union and france. but there has to be peace to keep in the first, doesn't there? more troops won't necessarily cure what also the country now, will? >> you have to break it down in to two areas. you have to first control the humanitarian cries discuss the troops will be very help troops will be very helpful in doing that. you have to create a peace corp

door so the refugees can get out and be safe so that humanitarian assistance can be provided to em them in the long-term, you are absolutely right. troops alone are not going to restore peace to car, it's going to be the people of c.a.r. coming together to do that. >> right know they seem to be absent the troops at each other's throats. >> i think you have to really put the whole thing in to context. when you look at what happened in december of 200012 and over last year, with the muslim leadership attacking christians and muslims as well and deteriorating in to muslim violence that we are seeing today, we have to focus on better ways to have both sides communicate with each other. to have an understanding so that peace can prevail and enabling environment can be developed in order to move forward without that you'll have the spiraling violence you see today. >> and is there a danger that the problems of one country, as

we have soy ofte so often seen t years affect other countries around it? these aren't exactly strong and stable states on some ofed with car's borders. >> this is a very good question. i mean, c.a.r. is a landlocked country. so it has neighbors that are really until a fragile situation. it neighbors south sudan, darfur, sudan, the d.r.c. and chad among other countries. a good example is the presence of the lord resistence army that fled uganda and has found a safe haven in c.a.r. and the ugandan army with the help of u.s. assistance was fighting the l. r.a. in the c.a.r. and now we are seeing now movement of population from the c.a.r. to chad and cameroon and even the d.r.c.

so instability in the c.a.r. is not good for the region. the last of countries you mentioned are it's complete with other countries that have had recent problems of either internal refugees crisi crises,t of government inning that bit. unsteady rains that caused the fragile food situation. i mean, this is -- you know us, get a couple of thousand people or even a couple of 10s of thousands of people fleeing from one place to the other. can t* can cause problems in the place they can, can't it? >> definitely. and the -- another issue is that right now the muslim population is running away, fleeing and going to chad. so i am kind of -- i fear the neighboring areas of chad, for example, could de facto secede. in a sense because the central government cannot control the

situation in the country as big as texas. >> when we come back, after a short break, we are going to talk about two important aspects of this crisis. is the rest of the world basically turning its back on the central african republic? and how much of the conflict between christians and muslims in africa is being seen in this one small country? this is "inside story," stay with us.

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complicated, violent struggle going on in just one country out of 50 on the african continent. >> i think situation in c.a.r is very, very unique and we need to pay lot of attention to it. c.a.r before, despite the years of coups and violence didn't have sex tier vinnie violence like they have today. and what you see is revenge killing from the time that the sale ca over took c.a.r early last years you had violence, mutilations, lynching against primarily the christian population, and what you see now is revenge and retaliation against the muslim population. >> which is a minority? >> which is a minority. and has been no jeers, yo year,e generations there. the big change is neighbors fighting neighbors, which happened in the early 2000s in c.a.r. it harkens back to bosnia. it harkens back to rwanda in

some cases where you have this really tragic brutality happening on the ground. it is very worrisome because it is a new thing for subsaharan africa to some extends. you see a little bit of that going on in mali last late year and toward the beginning of last year. this brutality based on religion in the middle of catch is of aw thing that we need to pay attention to and be fearful of. >> once interim religious conflict breaks out, is that a contagion that can link up with other friends that are going on in west africa or neighboring sudan. >> absolutely. there are a lot of commonalities with what is going on in the central african republic to what we see in other countries of the

region of africa in particular. and we can exactly analyze that contagion effect that you brought up f we look at the history of rebellions in central african republic directly related to chad next door and also in sudan. and these fighters were proxy fighters between chad and sudan just a few years ago. and the day to want that was reached between chad and sudan in the late 2,000s kind of enabled the fighters to seek safer ground specifically in the central african republic and fight against what is a broken or extremely state with no institutional capability to defend itself. but this kind of noah cross borders, a wham a mole type insurgency, we see this in mali that ambassador sanders talked b swaoe it nigeria, we have seen

it in chad previously. and now the we are trying to address this in lip i can't as well. so there is very many commonalities with what is going on in central african republic. with rebel fighters who have a grievance who have a history of being exploded from a central government, which was exactly the case in under the previous administration. and they have the weapons, they have the resources to rise up and fight. >> what is the american interest? historically in various parts of africa you might have looked at one country or another having terrible problems and say, well, that's a really a british problem because it's a former british colony or it's a french colony it's a former french colony. here we are yet again with another badly run country, people suffering the prospect of starvation down the road and you are sit something where in america and watching us with our talk on television.

what's is nba it for you? why should you pay attention to what's going on there? >> i would just mention two issues. the first wit is the humanitarin aid that the u.s. government is providing. and the second one is that if you look at this band, this band which is below the sahara, you see that you have instability all over this band. and the recent president visit of the president to washington, i think was a good example of an issue where both the u.s. government and the french government are trying to work together to have peace and stability in this corridor. because as i said earlier a safe haven in central africa. the instability in the south african republic would be a safe haven for terrorists for armed groups of all sorts. >> so, what the -- this band of

countries and, you know, we named sudan, south sudan, they have all had so much trouble in chad and it the congo itself, when they are not run well, and there is refugees crises and there is civil war, does that create a petri dish, a place for really bad international problems to continues to spread? >> definitely. i mean, a report by international crises group even mentioned that some terrorist groups could find basically financing from some illegal activities in the central african republic. and a diamond snuggling, poaching, among others, are ways in which armed groups can fund themselves. >> so where does it all end, ambassador? i mean, can you really see a time line where we end up with a collection of countries in that part of the world that are

properly run in the interest of their people and aren't exporting this instability and unhappiness? >> i think that we have to focus on the means to get there first. you cannot get there without looking at it strategically. i do want to put a qualifier on this band of countries here. and i think we have a tendency to do a cook cookie cut air cuh to these issues on the continent. i would argue that you have, you know, localized security issues in northern nigeria and northern mali and the central african republic is different because it's a smaller population, so the impact has been more global there. but sometimes the root causes, we have to pay attention to. we can't always say that all of the root causes for these outbreaks are the same. i would argue that for central

african republic, the fundamental issue there is like you mentioned, total lack of leadership over the last 20, 30 years. and you haven't had an enabling environment where the country can grow and develop. it's very different from it the situation in northern nigeria ye and mali. we have to be careful not to look at all the root causes being the same. that being said, i think that you know, the international community coming together, has an opportunity hear in c.a.r to stem the tied it. it's not going to be easy. it's going to be tough. and i understand that the e.u. is now looking at providing troops as well to the region. i think that donors that have pledges assistance need to step up to the plate and provide the assistance that they have pledged, they haven't done that. you have 60,000 people sitting right now trying to get out. they need additional airlifts to be able to do that. to move people out of the

violent situation. so i think the international community has to come together more in order to at least provide an enabling environment for hopefully dialogue to begin. >> has to come together and the question is, will it? and we'll talk about that after this short break. this is "inside story."

>> with al jazeera america. . welcome back to "inside story." welcome back to "inside story." i am ray suarez. the united nations says more than 2,000 people have been killed in the central african republic, and 800,000 people have been displaced. the question is, can the international community come together to help solve the crisis? still with us, robin rene sanders former united states ambassador to nigeria and the remember he can of congo, from austin mark schroder from a geopolitical intelligence firm. and a senior fellow at the

brookings institution africa growth initiative. mark schroder, you heard the ambassador run down a to do list for the world to sort of get things on the right track in the central african republic. but i am wondering, with all of the countries that are wealthy enough, strong enough to pull that off. to do any of them look at central african republic and see vital interests at stake there that would give them some incentive to intervene in that way? >> well, you know, you really speak to the heart of it. and to cut to the chase, it's really france among western countries that sees a compelling interest in the central african republic. it might be in part economic interest but just to insure stability in one of its former colonies that does not disrupt stability in the broader region that france is equally just as concerned about. and we have noted already, that france is intervening and in mali and has expressed recent

concern for rising insecurity in jihadist insecurity in libya. and so when we come bac come bae interested to step in and help this, that's a hard sale in most western governments. but france, france is one that has evidently stood up already, with deploying upwards of 2,000 troops and they will be there for the long-term understanding that they eventually have to be that guarantor for this long-term stability of central african republic, but we must also address the interests and the inclusion of the neighbors to central african republic. if we are to have a lasting solution for stability and development in the c.a.r. and with chad on the border with the democratic republic of congo, with uganda, cameroon,

and south sudan impacted to one degree or another. or impacting the central african republic, those countries must be incorporated in to a stability and long-term plan for the c.a.r. >> the recent era has seen a lot of african civil wars, but it's also seen continental groups playing a very important role in calming things down. can africa do more of this on its own? or are we inevitably going to see french troops, british troops, in african capitals in the coming years? >> just a couple of things. first, you have seen regional bodies being involved in the solution of crisis within the continent. in the c.a.r, the eccas, the regional economic community, is contributing troops and is also providing funds.

we have seen also in somalia, african troops have participating, and in south sudan, we have seen ethiopia and uganda and other countries being informed. so i think the -- involved. so i think the trend is already there. the last african union's general assembly, there was a statement, a commitment to have rapid intervention forces. african-led rapid interception forces. we are not there yet, but one thing the international community can offer is the logistical support. these things are not easy to organize and only some countries like the u.s. can provide enough lodge it's u.slogistical suppore communities to intervene rapidly, i think that's the issue. >> we have a very short time left ambassador, he mentioned the u.s. as being one of the

countries that could pull this off. is there much interest in this country in doing that? >> i think there is tha strategc interest because of it expanding and impacting other countries. when i was ambassador to the republic of congo i mentioned earlier to you that c.a.r had a coup during that period of time and the impact on congo with the refugees, so i think we get it. i know we are very much involved in dialogue with the french, i know that we tend to provide lift in those particular circumstances, particularly for humanitarian assistance, i know that we are doing that as far as c.a.r is concerned. one thing that we haven't had in c.a.r is we haven't had an embassy there in c.a.r for a very long time. >> thanks at lot. we have to stop it there. but i hope that we can keep on watching this story, mark schroder, ambassador, thank you all. that brings us to the end of this edition of "inside story." thanks for being with us in

washington i am way suarez. you are watching al jazerra america, i am jonathan betz live in new york. [ chanting ] >> pay testers cheered the return of an opposition hero as ukraine's president flees the capital. in venezuela both sides call for a show of support and thousands turn out for rival december strayings. agents captured one of the world's largest drug traffickers. it's a